No Start Due To Water Frozen In Fuel Tank

[DCTECH]

HAD A 2004 DIESEL TOWED IN FOR STARTED AND DIED. HAD NO FUEL TO TRANSFER PUMP. FOUND WATER IN FUEL TANK HAD FROZEN IN PUMP MODULE. WATER HAD ENTERED THROUGH ROLLOVER VALVE ON FRONT OF FUEL TANK. VALVE IS DOWN IN A CAVITY AND FILLS UP WITH WATER AND NIPPLE IS BELOW WATER LINE. CLEANED OUT TANK AND INSTALLED VENT HOSES ON ROLLOVER VALVES AND MOUNTED TO BOX. I HAVE CHECKED ALL 2003 AND 2004 TRUCKS AND WITH DIESELS THERE ARE NO HOSES. ON GAS TRUCKS ROLLOVER VALVES ARE PART OF EVAPORATIVE EMISSIONS AND HAVE HOSES.

 

[Bertram65]

That is great information, can you access the vent fitting without dropping the tank or taking off the bed?

 

[DCTECH]

YES YOU CAN ACCESS IT WITHOUT DROPPING THE TANK BUT IT IS EASIER TO LOWER TANK DOWN TO SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Thanks for the info. I found it on my longbed truck's fuel tank, on the top of the tank, just behind the front hat section of the bed. Plenty of room to see it with a flashlight and mirror. The hose nipple was already pointed toward the center of the truck. I pushed a piece of 1/4" fuel hose onto the hose nipple and tucked the end of the hose down between the tank and the steel side shield.

 

[Kurt Henzler]

that is great information, know i can explain why my truck was stuck in the woods for three days until it went about 35 degrees for 24 hours.



do you just have to drop the front of the tank?

how many hoses to you have to install?

Is it ok to just vent them toward the ground?

Is this a possible warranty issue?



thanks for the info

 

[LightmanE300]

if you guys ran anti-gel fuel additives this would have never happened...

 

[Bertram65]

How would an anti gel additive prevent water from freezing in the fuel tank? I thought the anti gel additives prevented the fuel from gelling at low temps do they also remove water from the fuel like dry gas in a gas powered vehicle?

 

[DCTECH]

Antigel additives wouldn't have helped with this much water in tank, I get my fuel from same place as this truck and no problems. This truck still was on first tank of fuel, only had 325 miles on it.

 

[Rman]

was this water from condensation... or did it just get splashed up into this cubby hole for the vent? Lightman, anitgel wouldn't have stopped that much water from freezing up. I run additive and it's still happened to me in extreme cold.

 

[LightmanE300]

lol! I see now today that I forgot my wink button! Boy, pulling your legs was sure easier without it though I was totally kidding. Just think its funny how some people think additives are second to diamonds ya know.



Sorry to hear about the freeze-up:-laf

 

[dlessard]

I took this pic tonight from my '04 Dually.

The pic isn't very clear but we can see the location of the "faulty" nipple...



HDen

 

[JPM]

Originally posted by dlessard

I took this pic tonight from my '04 Dually.

The pic isn't very clear but we can see the location of the "faulty" nipple...



HDen

Your "faulty nipple" photo didn't show up

 

[PJensen]

I would think running the new vent hose up by the filler neck tube.



Leaving it under the bed might still leave an opening if you get caught cruising thru some deep water.



What do you think?

 

[dlessard]

Pic?



The pic is 400X262 and only 17K... Why the pic didn't show up??

Something wrong in my TDR personal profile?



Thanks,



Denis

 

[dlessard]

A better pic (?) of the nipple into the cavity...

 

[Rosco]

That's great. One of the biggest enemy for a diesel (water) has a straight shot right into our tanks .

 

[PJensen]

From what I see of the location of the valve and the size of the nipple, you would have to submerge your truck in a lake or stick a water pick in there to accumulate enough water in there to be at risk for a freeze up.



You did say this truck only had 325? miles on it. I will bet the farm on the fact its a factory "as built" problem.

 

[Bertram65]

Great pictures, did you lower the tank to take those pictures? It looks like in the second one the water is at the edge of the nipple.

 

[dlessard]

No, I didn't lower the tank to take the pics.

If you want, it's easy to add a piece of hose at the end of the nipple without dismantling anything.



What you see on the second pic is shadow. There was about 1/16" of water (1. 5 mm) at the bottom of the cavity, nothing to enter the opening of the nipple...



Denis

 

[bighammer]

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Pardon my stupidity, but I haven't looked under the new truck that much yet. What I've marked is the nipple that lets in the water? What angle is the picture taken from?



Y'know, it's stuff like this that makes this all worthwhile. I'm sorry DCTECH had the problem with it, but it helps us all a lot to share this kind of info.





Great job Oo.